• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

An Oregon Cottage logo

  • Recipes
    • Best Desserts
    • Easy Salads
    • Easy Side Dishes
    • Homemade Breads
    • Sourdough
    • Homemade Soups
    • Pantry Basics Recipes
    • Simple Dinner Recipes
    • Simple Slow Cooker Recipes
    • Simple Snacks
  • Canning & Preserving
    • Canning Recipes
    • Dehydrator Recipes
    • Freezing Produce
    • Fermented Food Recipes
  • Gardening
    • Yard & Garden Tour
    • Vegetable Garden
    • Flowers, Beds & Borders
    • Gardening Tips
    • Ultimate Vegetable & Fruit Guides
  • DIY & Remodeling
    • 1900 Farmhouse
    • 1982 Ranch-turned-Cottage
    • Easy Handmade Gifts
  • Shop
    • Flexible Planner, Cookbooks, Ebooks & More
    • An Oregon Cottage's Amazon Shop
    • Shopping and Gift Guides
menu icon
go to homepage
search icon
Homepage link
  • Home
  • Recipes
  • Organic Gardening
  • DIY & Remodeling
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube
  • ×

    Get my newsletters + access to a library full of printables!

    Home » Blog » Organic Gardening » Gardening Tips

    August 5, 2015 | By Jami

    3 Easy Ways to Add Curb Appeal in Late Summer

    Using these three quick & easy ways to add curb appeal in late summer will freshen your home's exterior so you can enjoy the beautiful fall weather to come.

    Easy ways to add curb appeal in late summer by freshening your home's exterior to enjoy throughout the fall season.

    This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Gilmour. All opinions are 100% mine.

    By the time August rolls around, our initial excitement over the gardening season may be...lacking. It's hot. We're tired. The weeds may have taken over areas.

    It would just be nice to float in the river or sip an ice tea on our porches.

    But for many of us, late July into August is the calm before the storm of back-to-school, abundant garden harvests that need to be preserved, ramping up of sports, extracurricular activities, or job responsibilities (and some deal with all of these at once!).

    This means that late summer could be the perfect time to set a few hours aside to spruce up the outside of our homes and landscaping as we move into autumn.

    Using these three basic, easy ways to add curb appeal are all you really need to make a big impact for low cost. You won't believe the difference it makes to clean and tidy up, either!

    It's a great way to welcome visitors and the coming fall season.

    Three DIY, Easy Ways to Add Curb Appeal

    Add curb appeal in late summer by washing off dirt and cobwebs

    1. Clean Siding, Porches, Decks & Windows

    Basic cleaning of your home's exterior really gives the biggest return on time spent. Seriously, I didn't think our house was that dirty until I started taking the before pictures (can you say spider webs?) - and then comparing them with the after.

    Wow. And while I'm showing you nooks and crannies that most don't see as they visit, the overall effect after cleaning is really noticeable.

    I think the entry porch and door in the lead photo looks so much more crisp and clean than before cleaning! We used the Gilmour Power Jet Wand along with the Flexogen hose to clean pretty much everything.

    We even rinsed the outside windows with it, which helped get rid of the spider webs (so many webs...), but will need to use a cleaning solution soon to really get the windows clean (and then use the jet wand to rinse).

    Clean siding, porches and windows in late summer for fall curb appeal

    To be honest, we weren't sure how the wand would work, since it wasn't like renting a power washer or anything. And while one area of siding with dried-on mud from a gutter cleaning did need scrubbing with a brush, it worked like a charm overall for basic cleaning of cobwebs (I have mentioned them, right?), dirt, leaves, and debris.

    Both Brian and I like how:

    • The direct spray tip sends water right where you want (especially nice for the cracks between porch/deck boards).
    • It's easy and comfortable to hold and use - the metal is strong, but not heavy.
    • There's a control to regulate the force of the stream (though we used it on high for all of our cleaning - you may want less force for car cleaning applications).
    • It's really fun to use - especially when it's hot out and the backspray helps cool you (how many cleaning things can you say that about, ha!).

    A late summer cleaning adds curb appeal for the fall

    Nothing tells this kind of story better than pictures, so I'm (bravely) sharing our dusty, dirty, cobwebby before, so you can see the difference. Again, wow.

    If you had only time for one of the things on this list, this is worth the effort! (And yes, next up is restaining the porch steps and entry!)

    Ways to add curb appeal in late summer- trim plants in beds and borders

    2. Do a Mid-Summer Trim of Beds & Borders

    I know I'm totally guilty of thinking that I'm done with the beds and borders in late spring, but the truth is everything can benefit from a nice trim in late summer.

    The spring and early summer blooms need to be deadheaded, there will be browned leaves to remove and lawn edges to freshly trim.

    The before-and-after difference isn't huge in the photos above - the bed is still lush in its summer growth - but it's a LOT more neat and tidy.

    An added benefit to this cut-back is that there are lots of perennials that may produce another set of flowers for you, like reblooming daylilies, coreopsis, hardy geranium, and rose campion. And of course if you keep your roses deadheaded, most will continue to bloom until frost.

    Apply fresh mulch in mid-summer to prepare for fall

    3. Water Well & Apply a Fresh Layer of Mulch

    After trimming and cutting back flowers and shrubs, soaking the ground thoroughly will give them a much-needed late-summer boost (I like to use soaker hoses like I wrote about here).

    If you didn't get the beds mulched in the spring (it happens to all of us...) or if your spring mulch is looking tired, adding a fresh layer now is a great way to keep your beds looking great through to the fall and help hold in the moisture you added.

    I really like the look of dark garden compost as a landscape mulch - it feeds the soils as it breaks down (I never use any other fertilizer) and the dark brown adds a cooling effect to the garden versus lighter, red-toned bark or straw mulches.

    But use what you can get in your area, as anything will be an improvement over dry, cracking ground and straggling weeds. While this will cost some money, at around $20 for a trailer load (enough to cover the beds around most entries), it won't break the bank.

    What outdoor tasks do you like to get done before fall?

     

    Disclosure: I received product and/or compensation for this post. As always, the opinions, thoughts, and projects are all mine and I will NEVER promote something I don't love and think you will find helpful - promise! For more info, you can read our entire disclosure page here.

    About Jami

    Since 2009 Jami Boys has been helping readers live a simple homemade life through whole food recipes, doable gardening, and easy DIY projects on An Oregon Cottage. From baking bread, to creating a floor from paper, to growing and preserving food, Jami shares the easiest ways to get things done. She's been featured in Cottages and Bungalows, Old House Journal, and First for Women magazines as well as numerous sites like Good Housekeeping, Huffington Post, and Apartment Therapy.

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

      Leave a Reply Cancel reply

      Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

      Recipe Rating




    1. Tonnie Rogers says

      August 12, 2015 at 10:18 pm

      Ahh, August! Hot and dry...so we are just trying to keep up with watering and watering restrictions due to the drought here in California. I could certainly use this very cool hose. And a lot of mulch...The veggie garden is wrapping up except for the tomatoes which are very late because of vole problems.

      Reply
      • Jami says

        August 14, 2015 at 10:15 am

        I feel for you on the vole problems, Tonnie! We still deal with them and they are terrible. 🙁

        Reply
    2. Renee T says

      August 12, 2015 at 9:28 pm

      I just pruned and pulled veggies that were done. Bonus: I collected seeds from my dry snap peas 🙂

      Reply
    3. Sue Soper says

      August 11, 2015 at 2:36 pm

      It has been a banner year for spiders and their webs! I need to find that hose attachment you used!

      Reply
    4. shaunie says

      August 11, 2015 at 12:36 pm

      Digging up old bulbs and fertilizing our yard for fall/winter seasons ahead

      Reply
    5. Emily Smith says

      August 11, 2015 at 12:54 am

      When all of our garden has finished for the season we rototill it every few days to chop up the old plans so they can fertilize the soil.

      Reply
    6. Jennifer Martell says

      August 10, 2015 at 2:24 pm

      To improve clay soil in our garden, we added builder's sand, peat moss, and gypsum. It gets fluffier every spring(after tilling in leaves from the property as well.)

      Reply
    « Older Comments

    Primary Sidebar

    Jami Boys headshot

    Hi, I'm Jami and I'm so glad you're here! My desire is to help you live a simple homemade life through delicious whole food recipes, easy organic gardening and preserving your harvest.

    Read More →

    Popular Posts

    • Easy, Soft 100% Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread Tutorial
    • roasted cabbage wedges2_featuredroasted cabbage wedges_featured image
      Roasted Cabbage Wedges with Onion Dijon Sauce
    • Easy Sourdough Artisan Bread Recipe (Ready in 1 Day)
    • Original Brown Paper Floor Tutorial: A DIY Alternative to Wood Floors
    • How to Freeze Green Beans without Blanching
      How To Freeze Green Beans The Easy Way Without Blanching
    • Cucumbers on trellis_featured
      5 Reasons To Grow Cucumbers On A Trellis (And Taking Up Less Space Isn't One Of Them)

    ALL OUR CATEGORIES

    • Mail
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube

    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    About

    • Privacy Policy & Disclosure
    • Terms of Use & Disclaimer

    Newsletter

    • Sign Up! for emails and updates

    Contact

    • Contact
    • Collaboration & Advertising

    Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

    Disclaimer: All Content Provided On An Oregon Cottage Is For Informational Purposes Only. The Owner Of This Blog Makes No Representations As To The Accuracy Or Completeness Of Any Information On This Site Or Found By Following Any Link On This Site.

    Copyright © 2009-2023 An Oregon Cottage | No Content On This Site, Including Text And Photos, May Be Reused In Any Fashion Without Written Permission.